Adventure, treasure and rum gave birth to the Caribbean Pirate Captain Morgan from the warm waters he was to sail.
Henry Morgan made himself a well known name in the Caribbean as a leader of sea pirates and buccaneers.
Born around 1635 in Wales, Henry Morgan was eventually to become one of the most successful, decorated, and dishonest privateers ever to sail the Spanish Main. As a boy he was kidnapped from Bristol . His captors shipped him to the English West Indies colony of Barbados where he was sold as a slave boy to a plantation owner. This form of white slavery was common during the era. White slaves were, indentured servants who were supposed to be granted freedom after seven or so years of adult bondage. Many white slave holders circumvented English law however by starving the servant during his sixth year of service until a contract for another seven years of service could be agreed upon.
Henry's escape came in unusual manner. In 1654 Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, the current ruler of England, dispatched a large invasion force to the West Indies with the intention of capturing Hispaniola from the Spanish. The fleet anchored in Barbados, where its invasion force was swelled in numbers by hundreds of young men anxious to desert their owners and gain freedom. Among the recruits was nineteen year old Henry.
On March 31, 1655 some thirty eight ships with 8000 soldiers departed Barbados for the Spanish Fort of Santo Domingo. The resulting invasion attempt was a disaster and the English were sent running, by the Spanish defenders. Anxious to keep their heads, the force's commanders decided they should not return to England without some token of success. At once, the smaller, sparsely populated Spanish colony of Jamaica was invaded and captured a couple weeks later.
In the following years most of the invasion fleet dispersed, and many of the English soldiers left to garrison the colony perished of fever. Cromwell found himself with a vulnerable but strategically important base in the middle of Spain's New World. In order to populate the island he offered 30 acres of land free to any emigrant willing to settle there. In following years, especially after the ascension of King Charles II to the English throne, letters of marque were offered to privateers operating from the island. Since England could not afford to protect the island with a squadron of navy ships, the privateers were the only naval protection Jamaica had. However his uncle Edward Morgan was Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica after the Restoration of Charles II of England, and Henry Morgan married his uncle's daughter, his cousin, Mary.
In 1666 Morgan commanded a ship in Eduard Mansvelt 's expedition which seized the island of Old Providence and Santa Catalina . Morgan was chosen by the buccaneers as their admiral when Mansvelt was captured and killed by the Spanish shortly after the expedition to Santa Catalina.
By 1666 he had command of his own vessel, and soon afterwards was leading a loosely organized fleet of privateers against Puerto Principe and Puerto Bello. The sacking of Puerto Bello was particularly brutal.
In 1667 he was commissioned by Modyford, the governor of Jamaica, to capture some Spanish prisoners in Cuba in order to discover details of the threatened attack on Jamaica. Collecting ten ships with five hundred men, Captain Morgan landed on the island and captured and sacked Puerto Principe, then went on to take the fortified and well-garrisoned town of Portobelo, Panama. It is said that Morgan's men used captured towns people as shields in taking the third, most difficult fortress.
The governor of Panama tried to drive out the invaders, and finally Captain Morgan consented to evacuate the place on the payment of a large ransom. After receiving the ransom, Morgan and his crew returned to their base at Port Royal, Jamaica, to celebrate.
Modyford immediately entrusted Captain Morgan with another expedition against the Spaniards, and he proceeded to ravage the coast of Cuba. In January, 1669 the largest of his ships was blown up accidentally in the course of carousal on board, with Captain Morgan and his officers narrowly escaping death. In March he sacked Maracaibo, Venezuela which had emptied out when his fleet was first spied, and afterwards spent a few weeks at the Venezuelan settlement of Gibraltar, torturing the wealthy residents to discover hidden treasure.
Returning to Maracaibo, Captain Morgan found three Spanish ships waiting at the inlet to the Caribbean. Also, additional fortifications in the narrowest stretch of the inlet consisting of cannon and infantry. Admiral Don Del Campo offered to let Morgan go provided the privateers turn over the loot they had taken from the area. Del Campo gave Captain Morgan and his men two days to decide their fate. The buccaneers decided to fight.
The Admiral awoke to find a half dozen small English ships sailing towards his fleet. He ordered the galleons maneuvered
into position and fire broadside. The Magdalena had barely discharged her first barrage when a small English ship, laden with explosives, crashed into the side of the galleon. Within minutes Del Campo gave orders to abandon ship.
Meanwhile the captain of the Luis had ineptly run his ship aground in the narrow waters by the inlet, and she began to sink. Morgan turned his attention on the La Marquesa, which was soon surrounded by his ships and boarded. After a short, bloody fight she was in English hands.
A new commission was given to Captain Morgan as commander in chief of all the ships of war in Jamaica, and to levy war on the Spaniards and destroy their ships and stores. The booty gained in the expeditions being the only pay. This made Morgan and his crew privateers, not pirates. Consequently, after ravaging the coasts of Cuba and the mainland, Morgan decided on an expedition to Panama. Captain Morgan sailed for Panama with a fleet of thirty five small ships and over two thousand English and French privateers. It was the largest force of privateers brought together for one venture. One group was from Jamaica and one from Tortola. The venture was as large. The taking of Panama, the wealthiest city in the New World.
First he recaptured the island of Santa Catalina on December 15, 1670. And then on December 27th he gained possession of the castle of Chagres. A group of his men went by land to flank the Spanish. The enemy was untrained and rushed Morgan's line where he cut them down. Then his flankers emerged and finished off the rest of the Spanish soldiers. After looting and taking booty, the city was burnt. The Spanish governor had ordered the fallen city burned, with gunpowder in key houses of the city. This caused the massive fire and killed many of the citizens, although survivors were tortured for more treasure by Captain Morgan's pirates. This fire destroyed warehouses rich with silk, spices and other goods. The large English force camped in the smoldering ashes for weeks.
It had been expected that one would carry away many riches, with Panama being the wealthiest city in the New World.
But the silver gathered from the Peruvian mines and the merchants goods and fortunes had all been taken to safety before Captain Morgan's army arrived.
However, because the sack of Panama violated a peace treaty between England and Spain, Morgan was arrested and sent to England in 1672. He was able to prove he had no knowledge of the treaty.
The relationship between England and Spain quickly deteriorated, and in 1674 King Charles II knighted Captain Morgan and sent him out again as deputy governor of Jamaica. In 1683, Captain Morgan was suspended from the Jamaican Council by Governor Lynch. The reason being a book written by Alexandre Exquemelin. It exploited Morgan's actions not as a privateer but as a pirate. Morgan took steps to discredit the book and successfully brought a libel suit against the publisher, securing a retraction and damages. Two years before his death the position was given to his friend and his suspension was revoked.
He invested most of his riches in sugar and in expanding his plantations. Capatin Morgan lived as a wealthy and respected planter until his death on June 7, 1696. His contribution to the building of Jamaica had been immense. He was one of the few pirates who was able to retire from his piracy, having had great success, and with little legal justice. Shortly after his death a massive earthquake wiped out the city of Port Royal.
An exaggerated account of Morgan's exploits, written by one of his crew, created his popular reputation as a bloodthirsty pirate. But, in fact Henry Morgan was not a pirate. He was a privateer. This meant he held a paper issued by a representative of the English government, the governor of Jamaica, empowering him to fight the Spaniards on England's behalf.
Today he is well known as a brand of rum.
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